The Japanese in Manchuria, however, seemed confident that the end was at hand. One heard the capture spoken of as an impending event, that might any morning prove to be a reality; and I have little doubt that in the background of the Field Marshal’s schemes lay the expectation that he would soon receive the welcome reinforcement of General Nogi’s legions. I owe it to the exceptional kindness of the military authorities that they fell in with my request to be allowed to detach myself from General Kuroki’s command and to turn my steps southward. When we correspondents were released from the wearisome and exasperating detention in Tokyo, and were at length allowed to land in the theatre of war, we were given clearly to understand that each must remain with the particular command to which he was allotted, and that any attempt to break away and attach himself to a different portion of the army would render one liable to condign punishment, in the form of a restricted or cancelled permit. These conditions involved less of a lottery than might, superficially, appear to be the case, for the scale of operations was so gigantic that there was fair reason to hope that everyone would witness a good share of the fighting. Some might miss this engagement and some that, but as it was evident that every available Japanese soldier would be required at one point or another, there was not much risk of being left ingloriously on lines of communication, or of eating one’s heart out in inaction when stupendous doings were being enacted at another part of the area of warfare. Still, I must own to a peculiar sense of gratification when the permission arrived for me to proceed to Port Arthur, and need hardly say that I lost as little time as possible in availing myself of the privilege. Of course, it entailed the loss of witnessing the fierce struggle before Mukden--even a war correspondent cannot be North and South at the same time--but I had seen my share of the fighting between the armies in the field, and was confident of the result. The surrender of Port Arthur was a far more important and stirring episode in the history of the war than another defeat, on however grand a scale, of Kuropatkin’s gallant but disheartened soldiers.